Balticore Greytower
"Hang mercy and burn gods! If Kordova wishes my kingdom to end, he can come down here and kill me himself!" ~ Balticore Greytower Overview Charismatic, cunning, and ambitious, Balticore Greytower was a Margrave of Yshpyrre and the founder and first High King of the Kingdom of The Scourge. His vision and immense personal strength were instrumental in shaping what little civilization remains in The Scourge. Rather than allowing his family's armies to scatter with the refugees in the wake of the cataclysm, Balticore held the forces together and used them to bully any and every surviving settlement he could find into strict obedience. His bloodline is the last true branch of the Greytower dynasty, and the actions of his heirs will determine whether his life's work--The Kingdom of The Scourge--was a fool's errand or a world-shaping act of conquest. Early Life Balticore Greytower was born in the Fourth Era and was already a young man before the Scourge transpired. He led a life of privilege, study, and combat in Yshpyrre. He immensely admired his uncle, Margrave Laticore, and would wait eagerly for the tales brought back from the wars across the region at that time. This awe for battle, as well as his early adeptness in combat training, set him apart as the obvious heir for the title of Margrave, particularly as Laticore never married and had no children. From his mother Lessystrat, he gained an appreciation for Greytower history and the austerity of courtly life. Balticore never acquired any great knowledge of magic, in practice nor in theory. Because his skills as a warrior were apparent so early, the family thought it best not to bother investing too much time in training more appropriate for the Ghastwitch heir. Instead he studied tactics, history, geography. This knowledge would be key in his eventual conquest of The Scourge, but his lack of arcane knowledge haunted him all his life, leaving him dependent on his brother Vandergast, who spent years correcting his brother's wild assumptions about what was and was not possible through magic. When he reached the start of manhood, Balticore was thoroughly content. He was poised to inherit a position of power in one of the most respected martial families in the land, the family itself was reaping the profits of several successful campaigns on behalf of the fighters for independence, his training was complete, and he was ready to join the armies as an officer and prove his worthiness in the field of battle. It was then that The Scourge fell, and his mettle would be tested in ways he had never dreamed. Death Balticore's death was something of an oddity among Greytowers, though not unheard of. He died neither in battle nor by assassination, but of illness and at an advanced age. His eldest daughter Balvina, who conducted his embalming, noticed severe deterioration of his lungs and liver, as well as a thickening of the blood, all consistent with deaths related to the Scourge's curse. She was unable to convey this to anyone, owing to her untimely demise. Balticore had held out against the darkness of the land for decades, but eventually he succumbed as any man. Prior to dying, he did his best to put his house and heirs in order, though his careful plans collapsed on the night of Leonora's betrayal.